Do you remember what it was like when you were at home with your 5-day old baby, still in bed, healing from the most amazing and difficult thing you’d ever been through? I do.
I was introducing my brand new baby to my friend who had come to visit. She walked in with a meal in one hand and a Starbucks latte in the other and I was in heaven. Oh how wonderful it was to have her visit! But before I hardly had a chance to share my ENTIRE birth story with her, she said, “Well, I should probably go and let you rest.”
Now, I may have been politely smiling on the outside, but on the inside I was screaming, NO! Don’t leave me! I need more mom-friend conversation with someone who understands me and GETS me! Please stay another 3 hours!
Have you ever felt that way? You know, when your soul, body, and spirit are ALL dehydrated and you just need some refreshment through a friend?
We may not consciously think, “I need to be refreshed today,” when we are multi-tasking our lives and to-do lists, but that’s exactly what we need: REFRESHMENT!
When I think of being refreshed, I think of water. I think of how thirsty I am after a 5K run in the summertime and how my body is just aching for a big glass of fresh water. (That is… when I used to run 5Ks … a few short. years. ago … before child number two.)
In the Bible, Jesus says in John 7:37-38, “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
So truth be told, we can only find true refreshment from Jesus! Having a relationship with him produces streams of living water in and through our dry and thirsty souls. But what’s so beautiful is that one of the ways we receive this true refreshment is through our friends!
The apostle Paul talks about this in Romans 15:32“…so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.”
Here he is writing a letter to the Christians in Rome and is making plans to visit them. And he knows that when he meets with other believers there is a refreshment that happens. Isn’t that amazing? We become refreshed by being together!
But wait a minute. How do you actually “become refreshed” as moms who have giant to-do lists, errands, kids running around, or jobs to go to? Well, refreshment can come in many different forms.
Paul says in verse 24, “I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me in my journey there, after I’ve enjoyed your company for a while.”
So, part of the refreshment for Paul was having HELP! And the other part of it was just HANGING OUT together.
Then he says in verse 30, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.” And then he shares specific prayer requests. This is another way we are refreshed, then – through PRAYER!
To summarize, this is what I would call the refreshment of community.
- It’s helping each other out – bringing a meal, watching someone’s kids, running errands for someone else, or grabbing an extra coffee (amen?!).
- It’s enjoying each other’s company. You know, with all that’s going on and with our crazy mom-emotions and hormones, it’s easy to slip into isolation. But hear me, girl. God didn’t create us to do life alone. He created us for one another and we need to create margin so we can spend time together!
- And lastly, it’s praying for one another – specifically and intentionally joining others in their struggles by praying to God for them.
I am believing and praying for a year of refreshment for all of us moms here at Substance! Whether we work or stay at home. Whether we are single-momming it most days or have the help of our husbands and families…. I am claiming Romans 15:32 over all of us. That when we as moms come together, we will experience Jesus’ refreshment through each other!
So if you haven’t yet, I want to encourage you to grab the Substance guide, join a mom subgroup, and set yourself up for your most refreshed year as a mom yet!